


Speak to my Soul

by GuitarPyck



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-09-28 15:46:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10130021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuitarPyck/pseuds/GuitarPyck
Summary: Maggie discovers that soulmates are really more complicated then they should be.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> So... I don't even know where this came from. I guess you can never have too many soulmate AU's and I wanted to dip my toes in the sandbox. Let me know what you think, especially if you spot any glaring grammatical mistakes as I am currently beta-less.
> 
> This is story is only semi-canon compliant and will work off of information divulged from the show.

When Maggie is nine there is a scandal two towns over that somehow makes its way through the rumor mill and straight to their house. She is yawning hugely when she enters the kitchen that morning; her younger sister is already halfway through a bowl of oatmeal and is talking with her mouth full of the other half. 

“I heard that Mr. Jenkins, that farmer ‘bout 45 miles east, his wife left him for somebody else! They said she found her soulmate through the Internet and he woke up one morning and all her stuff was gone!” Maggie is quite sure that Amelia has no idea who Mr. Jenkins is or even how far away he lives so she must be spouting this information directly from memory. Probably overheard it when she and her friends had ridden their bikes to the nearby gas station without their parent’s knowledge. 

“Mia, please stop inhaling your food! And for God’s sake, stop talking with your mouth full! I don’t wanna see it after it’s passed your lips.” Their mother admonishes as she places a bowl in front of Maggie, although after watching her sister chew and talk at the same time, she’s not sure she’s hungry anymore. 

“Sorry Mama just wanted to keep you updated on the news.” Mia grins cheekily and starts on her toast at much slower rate by her own standards. 

Her mama simply hums in response and pointedly turns back to the newspaper laid out on the table. Maggie eagerly waits for her to finish with the boring stuff so she can grab the comics before Mia. They’re all startled when her papa begins to grumble and dig into his breakfast with a little more gusto. 

“Something wrong dear?” Mama asks. 

“She left him for another woman.” His grumbling is only slightly louder than before but Maggie hears him as if he had shouted. She seems to be the only one affected by this news because her mama’s response is to glance back down at the paper and Mia uses the distraction to swipe a piece of toast off of Maggie’s plate. Maggie is too busy trying to process the information that she doesn’t even engage in the argument she knows Mia is aiming for. 

“But, if she was her soulmate then…” her question is cut off by a loud scoff from her papa. 

“She ruined a marriage - a family - because she was being selfish.” He doesn’t elaborate any further before getting up to wash his dishes. Maggie isn’t sure why his dissatisfaction is bothering her but it is. 

Before she can say anything however, Mia pipes up. “A soulmates a soulmate, Papa.” 

He doesn’t say anything for a moment while he finishes washing away the soap suds from his breakfast bowl. She can see he is thinking through his response. He grabs a towel and begins wiping his hands dry before he goes back to his seat. Maggie loves this about him, that he discusses things with them like they were worthy of explanation. Nearly every other kid she knows gets brushed off or shouted at by their parents. 

She and her sister are lucky enough to have parents who work to get them on the same level. 

“Yes, like you said; a soulmate is a soulmate.” He pauses and grins adoringly at their mother and both girls groan in disgust. Mama merely chuckles and winks back before he continues. “But this woman probably had quite a few years of contact with her soulmate before she decided to marry Mr. Jenkins. And she waits until all this time later before she makes the decision to abandon all that?” 

“What if she suddenly realized that it wasn’t a platonic soul bond?” Mia asks and Maggie nods beside her, the same question had crossed her mind. 

It’s not at all uncommon; in fact there are nearly as many platonic soul bonds as there are romantic. It’s just people found romantic soulmates more interesting and that’s what was displayed in nearly all the movies, TV shows and books Maggie had ever been exposed to. 

To her surprise, her papa is laughing quietly to himself. It almost seems condescending. 

“Well I guess now-a-days that’s a thing, but I still stand by what I said earlier. She was being selfish by waiting this long. She’s ruined multiple lives now.” 

“But how do you know which way your soul bond goes?” Maggie tries to mask the desperation in her voice. This conversation is making her uneasy in ways she can’t really explain. 

“You’re a bit young now to really get it,” Her mother answers, placing a comforting hand over her Maggie’s. Mama isn’t trying to be mysterious or belittling. “You haven’t had enough communication with your soulmate to really know but in a few years it will start to click. One way or the other.” 

This seems to be the end of the conversation for their father. He gets up and places a sweet kiss on their mother’s cheek and both girls groan again at the affection; but Maggie’s groan of disgust is a little half-hearted. 

She’s still confused and she wishes that soul bonds were less complicated. 

===================================================================================== 

Maggie adores her soulmate. 

And yeah, she supposes that is kind of the point but still. In her totally biased opinion she has the best soulmate in the world. 

Before any bonded pair meets, anything they draw on their skin appears on the others. Only pictures and numbers. No letters, no names. Not even if the words are drawn in such a way as to appear picturesque; doesn’t show up. After they meet, well then one could write a novel and it would decorate the skin of the (probably irked) other person. Maggie looks forward to that day but for now she and her soulmate are stuck communicating through pictures of stick figures and deflated looking soccer balls. 

Or mathematical equations. 

She is pretending to scratch an itch to move her sweater sleeve out of the way so she can study the neat little numbers her soulmate has mapped out on her forearm. They aren’t answers per se, more like the method she would use to get the answers. 

See Maggie is smart, or at least too smart for this school district. The kind of smart where if she isn’t engaged, she gets bored. And if she gets bored, she stops paying attention. And if she stops paying attention, she falls behind. It’s a vicious cycle she can’t seem to break herself out of. 

Luckily, for as smart as Maggie is, her soulmate is smarter. Her mama likes to brag about having a junior rocket scientist as a future-son-in-law. Maggie always rolls her eyes at the sentiment but she can’t help but agree that it is a lucky turn of fate. But perhaps her mama wouldn’t be so proud if she knew what they were doing with her soulmates boundless knowledge. 

Taking another peek at the next set of rules, Maggie works through the final test problems and flips her booklet over. She’s the first one done and she slips a pen out of her sweater pocket to draw an extended fist. Only a minute passes before her soulmate responds with another fist bumping with hers. 

Maggie grins and leans back in her chair, it’s the final test of her 6th grade year. She is so ready for the summer holiday and to be upgraded to the high school building next fall. She daydreams of being the youngest soccer player admitted to the school team while she waits for her classmates to finish. She doesn’t care if they don’t allow players to tryout before 9th grade, she’ll find a way. 

The ringing bell startles her out of her musings and she’s out of her seat before the teacher can finish wishing them all a good summer. She checks her arms to make sure her soulmate has wiped the equations away before she slides the sweater off her shoulders with a sigh of relief. It’s a miracle that her teacher didn’t notice the unseasonably warm clothing, but she supposes that teachers of Blue Springs Elementary aren’t known for their great detection skills. 

She makes her way to the 4th grade wing to try and catch Mia before losing her in the jumble of excited, summer bound kids. Maggie spots her engaged in a very serious looking game of four-square. Her sister waves to her in acknowledgment before focusing back on her task and Maggie decides they might be here for a while. 

Settling against the wall in a cool patch of shade, she pulls out her pen again. She’s surprised to see that her soulmate has already started a drawing. A little stick guy surfing on a way too tiny board. Maggie laughs and watches as her soulmate adds details like water, sand, the sun, long hair on the surfer. 

Maggie’s heart nearly stops at that last detail. As close as she is to her soulmate, there are very few details she knows about them. It’s kind of an unspoken rule that before becoming an adult, soulmates share as little as possible with each other. This helps to prevent people from searching for the one they are bonded to, because sometimes meeting the one who holds the other half of your soul can be damaging if it happens too soon. 

Until now the only thing she really knew about her soulmate was that they were close in age. She’s seen a billion photos of herself as a baby with marks up and down her arms as if scribbled by a young toddler. And although they are by no means exceptional artists now, they seem to have developed skill at the same rate Maggie has. 

Maggie had always secretly taken this as a sign that her soul bond was a romantic one, and she knows her parents are hoping for it too. 

But now she stares down at this newly revealed detail and tries to rationalize it. Maybe her soulmate is trying to draw her? Not likely, they used a mixture of red and brown markers, that’s too specific to be a guess of her hair color. Maybe this is a boy who has long hair? Could be, but she has a gut feeling that that isn’t right. 

As she’s busy going over different scenarios her sister finishes her game. 

“Hey Maggot!” She plops down next to her sister, startling Maggie out of her reverie 

“Geez Worm! What is wrong with you?” Mia merely laughs at her irritation and leans over to look at Maggie’s arm. Maggie reflexively pulls her arm to her side so her sister can’t see. 

“You and your buddy cheating again?” She asks, bumping shoulders with Maggie. She shrugs at Mia’s question and doesn’t bother correcting her. She doesn’t want her sister privy to this piece of information just yet. 

“You ready to go? Mom says if we finish our chores tonight we can go to the lake tomorrow.” Mia whoops in excitement and practically drags Maggie to their bikes. Maggie tries to share her sister’s enthusiasm but she takes one last glance at the picture on her arm. 

She is distracted on the ride home. She can’t help but recall the family breakfast a couple of years prior; of her father’s disappointment in the woman who left to be with her soulmate. She tries to reassure herself that his anger was only because of the amount of damage caused by the woman’s selfishness. But now she can’t help but wonder - was her father perhaps angry because she left for another woman? 

She knows that being gay is very much frowned upon; that people still wouldn’t accept a same sex soul bond as anything other than platonic soulmates. She’s heard the things whispered about those who claim their bond is romantic. Maggie wonders if her papa is one of those people. 

Shaking her head she notices her sister is quite a bit ahead of her, she pedals harder to catch up and all the while she reminds herself that her papa loves her. He reminds her all of the time, she is the product of a very strong soul bond and she is precious to her parents, to her family. 

Besides, she can’t even be sure if the picture was of her soulmate. And even if they were a girl, well it was probably a platonic soul bond anyway. 

Despite her self-reassurances, Maggie still fights down the doubt. 

===================================================================================== 

Summer is well on its way when they get Maggie’s final report card. Along with it comes an application for the preparatory school over an hour away. Maggie is quite uninterested in this possibility but puts on an appeasing demeanor as her mama gushes. 

“Look Maggie, they even included scholarship opportunities!” Mama is pointing excitedly to a section in the pamphlet labeled ‘Financial Aide’. Maggie wants to point out the almost offensively diverse photo they’ve attached to this section when the rest of the pamphlet is obnoxiously white. But her mama is absolutely beside herself with pride, so Maggie just rides the waves as they come. 

She distracts herself by doodling with her soulmate. She still hasn’t been able to decisively determine their gender, but Maggie is starting to care less and less. All she knows for sure is that she feels most comfortable when she is sharing her skin with her soulmate. 

On days like today she feels like there is just too much running through her head, too much energy zipping along her limbs and she can’t get comfortable. She fidgets and scrapes her nails against her jeans, clenches her teeth and chews on her cuticles, but she just doesn't seem to fit in her own body. Not until her soulmate starts marking lines along her skin. Some days it’s the only thing that calms her. 

And she can’t imagine giving that up, even if the world might frown upon whatever they have going for them. 

Her mama is still making plans when Papa and Mia come home from cheerleading practice. Maggie should have guessed her sister would be the Ra-Ra type. She certainly had the vocal chords for it. 

“Look at this!” Mama practically shoves the application into her father’s face before he’s even through the door. “Maggie is excelling academically; they want her to apply to Wentsworth!” 

“Yeah, I’m sure she did it all by herself.” Mia mutters loud enough for Maggie to hear. She shoots her a glare worthy of Superman’s heat vision. 

Their parents are too distracted to notice the exchange as her mother continues to point out different opportunities for Maggie to utilize. 

Maggie sees her father’s jaw tighten and knows immediately that she will NOT be attending Wentsworth Preparatory. 

Mama must notice it too, “There are scholarships she can apply for, and tuition isn’t so bad. Just think of how many doors this could open for her!” 

“Jessie’s kids are going there.” Papa interrupts before Mama can go into any further detail. The effect is instantaneous, Mama’s lips purse and she turns to organize all of the displayed paperwork into a neat little pile. 

Maggie and Mia share a confused glance. She doesn’t know much about her aunt or her twin cousins. She has vague memories of the three of them hanging out before Mia was even allowed out of the playpen. She can barely remember what they look like. She wasn’t even aware that they lived close enough to potentially attend the same schools. 

“I didn’t realize you were still talking to Jessica.” Mama’s word are clipped, Papa shrugs in response. 

“She sends me letters from time to time, when something exciting is going on for her or what not. Haven’t replied yet.” And that is the end of the conversation as he slips off his shoes and heads further into the house. Mama starts preparations for dinner and Mia is apparently uninterested in the turn of events as she practically skips off to get out of her practice clothes. 

Even though Maggie had no desire to attend a prep school, she can’t help but feel a little irritated by her parents’ attitude. Why shouldn’t she be allowed to attend a school just because her estranged cousins were also students? 

She’s not even sure why her papa and aunt were at odds with each other, she knows there was a fight quite a few years back, shortly after her uncle’s death but the details are hazy and she recalls her mama ushering the girls into the car before many details could be revealed. 

Maggie doodles absentmindedly on her wrist, cracking a smile when her soul mate joins in until they’ve created a rather lopsided dog. When she turns her attention back to her surroundings she notices that the application forms and school brochure are gone. She has a sneaky suspicion that they’ve found a new home in the trash. 

With a heavy sigh, Maggie drags herself away from the dining room. She intends to spend the remainder of the afternoon catching up on her summer reading when she has the sudden urge to visit the study. 

It’s not really a study per se, just a converted walk in closet they stuck the family computer in so it wouldn’t take up space in the living room. But Maggie knows that this is also where her parent store old bill stubs and important documents. If her aunt’s letters are going to be anywhere, they would be in this room. 

She spares another glance behind her to make sure that no one is watching before easing the door closed. It takes less time then she would have thought to find what she’s looking for. The letter itself is gone, probably used as fire kindling over the winter, but the envelope is still there. It’s ripped in two pieces but the sender's address is still quite legible. 

Maggie isn’t sure what she intends to do with this information but before she can change her mind she stuffs the pieces in her pocket and puts on her best innocent face. 

===================================================================================== 

It’s a deceptively calm day when her soulmate cuts off contact with her. 

She starts the day off like any other, doodling a smiling sun to keep her soulmate up-to-date on the local weather before preparing for a full training day. She had of course not been allowed to try out for the soccer team in 7th grade but still showed up to practices and games regardless. By the time summer rolled around again they were already including her as an unofficial part of the team. 

Oddly enough her soulmate doesn’t doodle back with their own weather report. With a shrug, Maggie assumes they’ve slept in and goes about her day. 

A few hours pass and she is getting anxious. She’s desperate for contact with her soulmate to ease the tension in her muscles but it never comes. She starts doodles at every training break, but they go unfinished. During lunch she carefully transcribes the mathematical equations her soulmate had taught her over the school year, making sure to get every number correct. There is still no response. 

Near the end of the day she is pushing her muscles to dangerous levels but the extra adrenaline helps dispel the excess energy from her body. Still there is no contact. 

She has never gone a single day of her life without some form of contact with her soulmate and she thinks this must be what withdrawals feel like. Ignoring the protest of her muscles she bikes home and makes a beeline for the shower, dodging her family's probing questions. 

The water is almost too hot and it soothes the aches from her body. She breathes the steam in deep gulps to help coax her lungs to take in more oxygen. 

The hot water is almost gone when she feels a pressure on her palm. This one feels different than the marks usually do. This one feels like goodbye. 

She waits until the spray goes frigid and she is forced out of the shower before she finally looks at the picture. 

It’s a crooked little heart, no bigger than her thumb nail. In all of their many artistic conversations they have never once drawn hearts for each other. 

Maggie wants to cry but she doesn’t even know if this is just an overreaction. For all she knows her soulmate was busy all day and this is their way of apologizing. 

Still she dresses quickly and finds a marker in a pocket of her workout pants. With shaky hands she draws a matching heart on the opposite palm. Minutes pass and nothing happens. It’s so anti-climactic that she wants to laugh at herself. 

Instead she joins her family for dinner, answers questions about training, evades remarks about her arms bare of pictures and retires early for the night claiming exhaustion from a hard day’s work. 

In the morning even the crooked heart is gone. Maggie doesn’t bother giving a weather update.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie learns to live without her soulmate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for the comments and kudos this work has received so far! They have honestly inspired me more than you know and they just make me eager to continue with this little idea. Please continue to leave comments or kudos if you are enjoying the story so far.
> 
> This is a bit of a shorter chapter, the next chapter was too long and I needed to break it up a bit.

Maggie spends the next few days feigning illness. Her parents are content to leave her to her own devices since Maggie clearly doesn’t have the energy to get out of bed. Mia seems to be the only one concerned with her sister’s mental well-being rather than her physical state. 

“Hey Maggot, brought you something to eat.” Mia places a plate of rubbery eggs on the bedside table. Maggie doesn’t think she’d be able to choke them down even if she weren’t feeling like a pit had opened up in her chest. 

“Thanks Worm.” Maggie flashes a small smile at her sister before tucking herself deeper into the blankets so she doesn’t have to see the disappointed look on Mia’s face. She hears a heavy sigh and assumes that her sister has grown tired of coddling her and expects to be left alone – again. 

Instead she feels the mattress dip as Mia snuggles in against Maggie. The blanket burrito she’s wrapped herself in prevents her from feeling her sister’s warmth but the arm she slings over her shoulders has a comfortable weight. 

They spend several moments in silence, Maggie watches as a star appears on her sister’s wrist and she glares at the mark until her vision goes blurry with unshed tears. 

“My soulmate stopped communicating with me.” Maggie doesn’t remember making the decision to tell her sister but the words slip out and she’s almost relieved. 

“I know.” Mia whispers back. Nothing else is said between them and she watches more intricate patterns dance across her sister’s skin. Mia’s soulmate is seriously talented. 

It’s not until they hear their father's truck rumble up the driveway do they move from their positions. Maggie startles slightly and realizes that she was dozing off. 

Mia slides off the bed and grabs the untouched plate of eggs. Maggie can almost feel her hesitate and hopes that whatever she has to say is quick. She is tired and all she wants to do is sleep now. 

“Y’know… I heard that it’s worse for the one who cuts off communication.” Mia slips out the door and closes it softly behind her. 

Maggie supposes that her sister was trying to make her feel better or help her find justification in this. But all she feels is that ever widening pit expand, crushing on her lungs until she can no longer fight the tears. 

===================================================================================== 

Maggie fakes symptoms for as long as she is able before her parents grow suspicious and demand that she join the outside world. Reluctantly she wanders around the town until she spots the library. 

It's a converted farm house from probably a thousand years ago and the books are equally as old, but it has better internet connection than her own home. With a resigned sigh she drags her feet up the crumbling stairs. 

The AC is on full blast and she hadn't realized how hot she was until the sudden drop in temperature makes her shiver in delight. This, coupled with the sight of several free computers allows Maggie to feel the first stirrings of contentment she's allowed herself in nearly a week. 

She snags a station farthest away from any of the other users and spends a few minutes checking email and catching up on team stats. She intends to spend the remainder of her session playing solitaire, but the nearest bookshelf catches her eye. It's the romance section, a collection of books Maggie typically has no interest in but she can't help but notice that nearly every title has the word 'soulmate' in it. 

She wonders if she glares hard enough would the books go up in flames? 

Maggie turns back to the computer, opens the search browser and hesitates. If she's being completely honest with herself, there is one fear that's been gnawing at her but she's afraid to learn the answer. 

With a sigh of resignation she begins to type "how to know if my soulmate has died". 

It takes a few seconds for the answers to pop up and they are as frustrating as the last. She is bombarded by tragic tales of lost loves and mournful regrets, but nothing concrete on how to determine for herself. The prevailing theme seems to be you'll just know. 

Maggie is unbelievably sick of that answer. She grinds her teeth together until the overwhelming urge to throw the keyboard across the library is subdued. 

She intends to storm off and spend the rest of the summer watching documentaries and terrible game shows, but a link at the bottom of the search results gives her pause. It leads to the homepage of a small group of scientists and Maggie is instantly intrigued, they probably knew what they were talking about right? 

The article begins with a list of possible symptoms and Maggie feels her stomach drop with each one. Lethargy? Check. Loss of appetite? Check. An overwhelming feeling that something's missing? Oh, double check! 

There are still a few symptoms that Maggie hasn't exhibited and this alone prevents her from abandoning the article all together. Of course, near the end there is a 'test' the author suggests the reader try. 

Maggie rolls her eyes so hard it's painful, why didn't this dweeb put that information first?! 

The instructions are simple enough; write a word, a simple 'hello' will do. If the soulmate is still alive the words will disappear due to the unwritten rules of nature that words cannot be exchanged between soulmates before meeting. If they are dead the then the words will linger until the initiator has wiped them clean. 

Of course this only works for soulmates who have not met and blah blah blah, Maggie doesn't even bother reading the rest of the paragraph. She's too busy digging a pen out of her pocket. She's almost nervous as she contemplates what to write. 

I miss you 

Maggie decides to write the one thing that she's been desperate to convey to her soulmate. Not that it matters anyway, no matter the outcome of this little experiment they aren't going to see it. 

The next few seconds blend together into an eternity, her lungs burn as she forgets to breathe. She can't remember it having ever taken this long for words to disappear. Maggie begins to fear the worst. 

Finally, the scrawled letters begin to fade into her skin. 

Relief floods her veins and the knowledge that she is still in the library is the only thing keeping her from whooping with joy. They're still alive! 

Grinning broadly, Maggie begins the process of shutting down the computer, suddenly eager to be on the move again. As she waits for the final steps to finish processing, a stray thought hits her like a ton of bricks. 

If they weren't dead then they chose to cut off communication. And like Mia said, it was always worse for the one who did the breaking off; so they must have been so eager to rid themselves of Maggie that they were willing to suffer for it. 

A pit opens up in Maggies stomach and she wants to sink into its depths. She wallows in the feeling for a few minutes before the rage kicks in. 

Well, fine. 

If her soulmate didn't need her then she didn't need them either. With a huff she forces the chair back, scraping loudly on the hardwood floors and drawing a few irritated glances. To hell with them, Maggie thinks as she tosses the pen on the desk. She wasn't going to need it anytime soon. 

===================================================================================== 

With newfound determination Maggie throws herself into her everyday tasks, no holds barred. Her parents are thrilled at this turn of events, Maggie just wants to feel normal in her own skin. 

Soccer becomes a saving grace. She uses training to wear her body out, she plays harder than any other player; and even though she still isn't an official part of the team, the coaches begin running her like a starter. 

The physical activity does its part and the constant anxious tension begins to ease to a tolerable thrum. 

Her days become easier to wake up to every morning but her nights are still overcome with the knowledge that something is missing. Maggie does her best to shove the feelings of incompleteness aside and as the summer progresses she needs less time every night to drift off to sleep. 

Before she knows it, the first-day-of-school marked on every calendar looms ever closer. The training season ends and Maggie notices that she no longer needs to run off excess energy. Her withdrawals have finally faded. Although she can still feel the connection to her soulmate like a bruise that aches if she prods to hard, it is no longer at the forefront of her mind. 

The night before the school year begins, Maggie spends the late afternoon leaning against the willow tree in their front yard, soaking in as much of the summer sun as she can. She's proud of herself for coming so far and she allows herself a few careful thoughts of her soulmate. She wonders how they're doing and if they've also overcome the loss of connection. 

She hopes that they're safe, wherever they are. 

The sun finally sets and Maggie hauls herself to her feet. She has a good feeling about the direction her life is headed. 

The next day she meets Eliza.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have any sort of emotion for this piece so far please feel free to comment or hit me up at guitar-pyck.tumblr.com


End file.
